Listening Early

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Scripture
 
Luke 21:38 And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple.

Observation

Jesus had a routine while in Jerusalem. He would spend the day in teaching and then retreat to the Mount of Olives for rest. Evidently there wasn’t room for him in the city at night. Every morning he would get up early and come back to the temple to teach again. The people wanted to hear him so badly that they were willing to get up early in the morning to go and listen to him. John Wesley remarked on this passage, “And all the people came early in the morning to hear him—How much happier were his disciples in these early lectures, than the slumbers of the morning could have made them on their beds! Let us not scruple to deny ourselves the indulgence of unnecessary sleep, that we may morning after morning place ourselves at his feet, receiving the instructions of his word, and seeking those of his Spirit.” (Wesley’s Notes)

Application

I had to chuckle a little at Wesley’s comment on “unnecessary sleep.” I’m guessing that in our busy world there are few of us that would think that we were overindulging in unnecessary sleep. At the same time, the point is well taken that there was discipline on the part of Christ and on the part of his followers to make learning about God a priority. They made it a habit to listen early in the morning to the things of God. In this way the pattern for the day could be established as the mind was already set on the Lord.

May we gather morning by morning in the word of God and allow those words to soak into our very being, shaping us into the image of Christ. May listening early in the morning become the practice of our lives and may we live in obedience to the still small voice that we hear in the quiet of those early morning hours.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for meeting with me in the early morning hours and shaping me for the day ahead. Please, help me to listen and follow. Amen.


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